Nothing Stands Alone
I have been thinking about a new word since the new year. I knew it needed to be something about community but I just couldn't decided on the word. Last year my word started out to be "Share" but it became "Story" as I kept running into the idea of story in the scripture and in the books "that found me." I just have impression that in this time of pandemic we need to tell our story and listen to the stories of others. So it followed that my word for this year needed to involve the idea of relationships built on stories. If there is anything the pandemic has taught us is that we need each other. So today as I was listening to Brian McLaren's podcast on my daily walk he describes the Father Rohr's theme for the year: Nothing Stand Alone. That is it - this is what I want my theme for the year to be, Nothing Stands Alone.
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I have just finished Diana Butler Bass's book, Freeing Jesus. I think it will turn out to be one of the books that will have the greatest impact on my life. When I look back on what books that I have read in the past two years it seems that they are coming at just the right time - and I don't think that is a coincidence. I believe that God has put these books and these authors in my path to become a part of my journey toward him, towards home.
In her book Dr. Bass describes her spiritual journey as a memoir theology "understanding God through the text of our own lives and taking seriously how we have encountered Jesus." (Quote taken from the Conclusion chapter - I read e-books so I don't have a page number.)I finished the book this morning. I read a lot of non-fiction so while I read I open up my note taking app on my iPad and take notes - once a professor always a professor, sorry. This time the note taking was different. My notes became my journal. As I would write down an important idea from the book I would also write my story. This was easy because Bass is about my age and I had similar experiences with Jesus as she describes. Reading this book has encouraged me to look back on my relationship with Jesus and to name the Jesus that I have experienced and am experiencing now. (The book is organized around the different ways she saw Jesus through her life, e.g. Friend, Teacher) It encourages me to face hard questions that I have avoided. It encourages me to embrace the idea of theology and to develop mine. I have always avoided theology because theology was something that people just seemed to argue about. I don't like arguing. I also saw theology as something that I wasn't quite smart enough to get. I am a slow thinker and I have to really work at understanding things. Now I see that we all do have a theology, the way we believe about God we just don't usually name it or describe. It is under the surface yet impacts everything we do. It is uncomfortable to look closely at what you believe, what you have been taught. It is a challenge to look that deep at your relationship with Jesus. It requires that you let go of the security of the beliefs held dear and look at them to see if they really fit, if they are right, if they lead you closer to Jesus. Now my question to myself is what will I do with this new journey - how will I share it? I am both amazed and grateful at how God brings scripture and books and music and blogs and podcasts into my life at just the right time. Recently I have come to find my thinking and praying centered around the idea of story - and sharing stories. It fits with my word for the year of Share.
In the recent RCL readings for Eastertide we read the story of Peter and Cornelius. What struck me most about this passage was that Peter didn't give some indepth theological treatise when he walked in to find the friends and family of Cornelius eagerly waiting for him. This of course was a shock for both of them, Peter the Jew and Cornelius the Roman Centurion. So Peter told his story - the story of what he just learned about how the message of Jesus love was for all people, both Romans and Jews. So at the same time I was studying this passage I came across a podcast about C.S. Lewis with Alister McGrath. He has written extensively about Lewis and the conversation I listened to the subject was the Narnia Chronicles. And I remembered them. I still remember the first time I read them - it wasn't in childhood. I was in graduate school and one weekend, I don't remember why, but I read them - and I couldn't stop. I read the whole series one Saturday. I have read them again several times since then. We read them to our children. Each time I saw more connections to scripture. The stories spoke to my heart and emotions as well as my mind as only stories can do. So I am reading them again - and again there is so much more to discover with each chapter. As I do I see again the importance of story. Here is what I have put together so far: Stories engage us for God, the great story teller, made us to tell stories. The Bible itself is "one story that leads to Jesus" (as the Bible Project and biblical theology teaches). we need to immerse ourselves in the story of scripture. Christian faith is allowing our story to become a part of the bigger story of God's plan for redemption, giving each follower a purpose and a role to play. Each of us has our own story. It is a story that no one else can tell. It isn't just one single story of one single time but many stories. Maybe it is a story of how we came to faith or how our faith has deepened from a special experience or something we have seen in God's word or God's world. When we tell these stories of our lives they are real - and they engage others. Part of our stories are how we know and what we have learned about God in the scriptures but they must also contain our experiences with Christ and his presence in our lives. We are tempted to believe that our stories are not good enough or that we don't have the skill to tell our story. We think we must be great writers or speakers to tell our stories. But this is not true. God has given each of us a way and the skill we need to tell our story - it may be a painting or a photograph or a quilt or special meal - whatever you find joy in doing. This is how you tell your story. We all need to see how our stories fit into God's purpose. This will take study and prayer. We will then need to develop ways to tell our story and to really listen to the stories of others. Then we will need courage to tell our stories in ways that others see the love of God and are drawn to his love. So read Narnia again. Listen to the beautiful story and see in it God's story of salvation. Put your story and your life in God's hands. Tell your story as only you can. I am reading the Bible following the "One Story That Leads to Jesus" plan from the Bible Project. Today I was reading from Deuteronomy 3 and I came across these verses that made me think:
The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. Deuteronomy 3:7, ESV Even in the wilderness, the place where the Israelites were wandering because they chose not to trust God, God still took care of them. He provided for all of their needs. The wilderness is a hard place to be whether we are there by our on doing to not. We need to remember that when God seems far away and the wilderness before us is vast, God is still watching over us. I just wanted to share this new idea that I got from some of the things that I have been reading about God's word. Scripture is full of echos. An echo is something that is a repeat of something that was just spoken only a little fainter.
There are many times in scripture when a verse or a story or a poem refer to another part of scripture. I am going to call this an echo. While you can read the scriptures without knowing all the connections a passage may have to other passages, you get a much deeper meaning when you have studied the scripture enough to make the connections. In other words after you have read scripture for a while you develop the ability to hear the echos. For example, when you read that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days you can hear the echo of the people of Israel who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. And another example, when you hear God say at Jesus's baptism, "you are my son," you can hear the echo of Psalm 2:7-8, NIV, "I will proclaim the LORD'S decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. There are so many more echos in all of scripture. It takes time to read and study the scripture enough to be able to hear the echos. It also helps to have bible scholars to help point them out to you. I like this idea of echos and I want to begin to ask God for each scripture that I study that he shows me the echos. So each year I chose a word for the year - a word to focus my attention I guess you would say. I usually start thinking about the word in December. I don't have a method or plan for picking the word. I usually just sit back and let it happen - let God speak to me in some way.
This past year, honestly, I didn't pay much attention to my word. My year began with a hip replacement which was followed by COVID and the ensuing lock-down. We didn't travel. We actually spent most of the time in our house. There was a brief respite when in August and September we had outside church. One thing this past year did give me was time to delve more deeply into God's word. I completed two online courses from the Bible Project - one on the Hebrew Bible and one on Heaven and Earth - the creation stories. Also through searching and using more of the resources at the Bible Project I found some new authors and books that have greatly influenced me and the choice of my word. I thought I would just list these here - I have linked them on my Favorite Books page:
In these resources I find a challenge to make God's word more than just an intellectual pursuit, to share Jesus. I love to study and learn new things, I always have. But these resources have given me a desire to move beyond my "Christian Bubble" (Rebecca Manely Pippert's phrase) and the safety of just learning new things about the Bible. In order to share God's love in truly authentic and compelling ways I want to do these things:
So this is my word - SHARE. Do you have a word for 2021? Please share it with me. One of the blessings of this year is the resources that I have found to study God's word. I have made the Bible Project a part of my daily routine in some way or the other. I have also read books by N.T. Wright, Scot McKnight, and Nancy Gutherie. The common thread of all of these is their emphasis on Biblical theology - that is seeing the Bible as one complete story that leads to Jesus. All these things have given me a new perspective on God's Word.
I have lived in the mountains of East Tennessee all my life. I can see Mt. LeConte from the dam where I walk almost every day. I have driven in the mountains and even hiked to Alum Cave. I have never had the desire to climb that mountain. I have been content to simply see it in the distance and drive around it. But the time with my camera has given me the desire to climb it. All these resources that I have studied this year have been like a gift. They have given me the desire to climb the mountain of God's word, to read more than just the familiar passages. I want to read more deeply and actually study the Bible in a way that goes beyond "what 's in it for me." I want to do the hard work of finally climbing the mountain, of studying the way I did for my degree and teaching. When you get to the top of the mountain you see valleys and hills and mountains. I want to begin my journey to the top of the mountain - one that will take as Psalm 1 says every day and night. As I climb I want to see the connections between passages, to see how each part of the Bible tells us more of God's plan. I want those connections to become ingrained - so used that I make them without thinking - that I see them instantly. This will take time just reading God's word as well as reading the work of Bible scholars. Along with this desire to climb there must be a purpose for climbing. Study for study's sake is not enough. I must learn to share what I have studied. I must learn to share the story of Jesus. I am not sure how I will do this - that part God will have to show me. One way may be this website and the blogs but I want to be open to more ways. I don't know if anyone will ever read this post, but if you do and you want to study more on your own I have and will continue to put the resources that I am using on the "Ideas" page of this website. And I would love to have someone to join me in climbing the mountain - to walk and talk about what we are learning. If you would like to do that then you Contact me. I have been thinking a lot about my word for the year, purpose. It seems that during this year of pandemic and quarantine that I forgot about that word. I didn't even remember what it was at one point. It was not until I started to work on my yearly book of photographs that I make as a Christmas present for my family that I had to go back and look it up. But as I look back now, purpose was something that I have struggled with especially during the last 6 months.
This year was mostly spent at home, I mean in the house. For the first 3 months of the year I was recovering from hip replacement and then the virus hit. There was no travel, no planning for a road trip, not much camping (the campgrounds were full which was unusual), and only a couple of trips to see the children. As a result there were not many opportunities to get out with my camera. I even had a new camera body but trips to the mountains were even hard due to all the crowds. So I had time to fill. We did work a lot on cleaning out the basement but the other thing I did was to start to spend more time studying my Bible. I look back on my journey of Bible study during the past couple of years and and grateful for the resources that I have found. I discovered the perspective of Bible study called Biblical Theology. The name can throw you off. It doesn't mean theology based on the Bible - for the other kinds of theology, Systematic and Historical, are also based on the Bible. Instead, in the words of the Bible Project, "We believe that the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus." The goal of Biblical theology is to trace the unfolding story of the Bible and God's plan of salvation. What studying the Bible from this perspective has given me is the ability to make connections. This way of study has led me to study and appreciate the literary beauty of the scripture, which of course is not possible without the help of scholars who understand Hebrew. Here are the resources that have influenced me during this past year:
This kind of deep study led to a reflection on the purpose of the website. I tried for awhile to put the two together, i.e. what and how I was studying the Bible and my photography and the main blog of the website. This didn't really work. Over the year my rate of posting slowed considerably. Until finally I almost quit posting all together. I did not post at all in October. There was no desire to post and there was no inspiration to post either from God's word or my images. It was like the well was dry and there were no new ideas. I thought about giving up the website and my photography. I worried that the blog was just devotional words that would not lead anyone to study the Bible in a deeper way, the blog posts only encouraged a surface reading of the Bible, reading to feel good. At the same time I knew that I was still struggling with understanding what I was learning at a deep enough level to write coherently. Yesterday, a point of clarity came to me on my walk at the dam. I guess it makes sense that it would come there. It was cold and windy but I was still outside in God's world. I have also started listening to music, podcasts, and my audio Bible while I walk. I think my problem is that I was thinking dualistically. There is a need to study the Bible deeply using all the resources you can, to read all of it even the hard parts. But there are also times when I need to read the Bible devotionally ; I need to hear hope and encouragement and joy and praise in God's word. So what is the purpose of the website, the blog, and my photography? What is the mission God has given me? I don't think that it will ever be one thing. I need to always be open to letting the website and my photography go where God takes it, knowing that it is highly unlikely that God will take it where I expect - that is not His way of working. Recently the devotional ideas are flowing again so I will continue the blog that is the main part of the website. And, just this morning, I will start to use this blog part of the website to share what I am learning. So for now I am going to try to use this "Thoughts" blog to write what I am learning and the main blog for devotional thoughts. So if anyone actually reads this part of the website then please tell me what you think - how can this website help you see God's word in his world. Over the last several years I have developed a new ritual in my life, choosing a word for the year. I usually start thinking and praying about this in December and by the beginning of January I have found my word. This year I have struggled with this ritual. My hip pain had been gradually getting worse and made it difficult for me to walk. I decided to have the hip replacement surgery in January and that loomed over my plans. Recovery hasn’t been as easy as I had hoped. In fact there have been many days of discouragement, days when I wondered if I would ever walk normally or go for a hike again. Finally a light has opened up - not because I have recovered from the surgery but because I have to come to the point with God to say, “OK if I am to never walk normally or hike again, then I will trust you to lead me in a new way.”
Now the word comes to me: PURPOSE. As Christians we have a big purpose - to fulfill God’s good purpose which is to act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. The question then is how do we accomplish this purpose. What is our purpose this day that will bring about God’s purpose? It is a question we must ask each day. We have to be open to the way God will answer. I do believe that God has given each of us special gifts and things that we enjoy. So we must continually seek for ways to use those things to accomplish his purpose. This year I want to be diligent in searching for his purpose every day of my life. I want to be open to what God’s purpose for me right now is. I want to continue to enjoy photography and writing the blog but I also want to make sure that it is his purpose for me and be willing to give up either one. A part of the ritual of choosing a word for the year is to choose a verse for the year. Here is mine for the year: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13, NIV These were the words that Ken Duncan, Australian photographer, used to introduce himself. Today I found him in an ebook that I had purchased awhile ago and had forgotten about. So I started reading his book again and it made me want to find out more about him. I went to his website and also found a documentary movie he had made called “Chasing the Light” that I was able to watch on Prime video. These are some of the things that I learned from him today and some of my thoughts while reading or listening.
He always had on a T shirt with something printed on it. It is his quiet way of getting out his message of speaking his faith. One he wore said” Faith or Fear, Your Choice.” In all his conversations he acknowledges God, shares God. It was interesting to see how the interviewers in the video kept skipping over this. He wasn’t pushy but he was honest. I want to be like this with my faith. So much a part of me that I have no fear of speaking it and speak it in a way people can listen if they choose to. “The beauty of nature gives people a peace to know there is hope. There is a God and he is in control, don’t worry about it.” “Writing and photography are the same - they are both a form of storytelling.” - So here I am telling stories that I never thought I would, with both words and pictures. I would have never guessed this. To make a good image you must put down your camera and connect to the land. Come back again and again. Come with respect of the land. When we do we will see something bigger than us. Great shots come out of respect for the land. “The land holds the record of the passing of humanity - the stories are in the land.” Maybe that is why I like photographing the Smokies so much. This is the land where my grandparents and mom grew up. These Smokies hold stories of people who came to live in this beautiful place. “Great photos are given to you if you just call out and see what happens.” - kind of sounds like “be still and know that I am God.” Then you say, “I did that, no God did that.” The places we go to photograph are more than just locations, they are places where you meet God. “To really see a place you must look at a place without a lens and you will see God there.” Sometimes I will take a picture and sometimes I won’t. The image needs to tell something that can’t be described with words. “Sometimes I feel like God’s great test pilot. I want him to use me that way.” “For me clouds are a canvas for God to paint on.” I have come to love clouds and always looking trying to see if they are going to be canvas for God this day. These words made me cry. He has given voice to want I feel inside and haven’t been able to put to words. I have so much to learn about photography but I am so grateful that God give me this gift and that slowly and surely he is teaching me to see. I already see beauty where I would never have seen it before. |
This page is in blog format so the posts are in order with the most recent first. Here I hope to post some of the things that I am learning from by Bible study and other topics.
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Soli Deo Gloria,
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan